Airplane



M. PERSTEN March 19, 1935.

AIRPLANE Filed Feb. 1, 1933 s Sheets-Sheet 1 lllllllllii ill MEYER PE STEN INVENTOR ATTO R N EY March 1935 M. PERSTEN I l',994,663

AIRPLANE Y Fi, led Feb. 1, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 II II II II MEYE PER INVENTOR ATTO R N EY March 19, 1935. M. PERSTEN 1,994,663

AIRPLANE Filed Feb. 1, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 MEYER PERSIEN INVENTOR ATTO R N EY Patented Mar. 19, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

proper action be interfered with, or should the propeller fail to function.

An object of my invention is the provision of means whereby a safe landing may be effected, even though the airplane may become disabled While in'the air.

The invention will be fully and comprehensively understood from a consideration of the following detailed description when read in con-' nection with the accompanying drawings which form part of the application, with the understanding, however, that the improvement is capable of extended application and is not confined to the exact showing of the drawings nor to the precise construction described and, therefore, such changes and modifications may be made therein as do not affect the spirit of the invention nor exceed the scope thereof as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an airplane embodying my invention.

. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the airplane shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3--3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 66 of Fig. 5;

and

Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings for a more detailed description thereof, the numeral 10 indicates the body of the airplane, to which body are'pivotally connected at their inner ends, for up and down movement, wings 11 and 12. Means are provided for moving said wings up and down, said means being adapted to be selectively operated either manually or from an electric motor. The wings are moved up and downor flapped when 'rings 13 are given a rock ing'motion, which rocking motion is effectedby means of the reciprocating motion of a vertically disposed rack 14 which carries a channel-shaped cross-piece 15 in which rollers 16 ride horizontally back and forth as the vertical rack reciprocates. Said rollers are carried by the rings 13 and said rings are attached to the wings at 17 and are pivotally mounted at their centers 18 to the upper edges of the body 10 of the plane. The rack is reciprocally moved by means of a crank 20 which may be turned by the motor 21 when the parts of the clutch 22, best shown in Fig. 3, are engaged. When it is desired to reciprocate the rack 14. from manually operated means, the clutch parts 22 are disengaged and the rack is reciprocated by the turning of a gear 25 which meshes with the rack 14. Said gear 25 may be turned by means of a lever 27 mounted on the end of the shaft 28 on which said gear is fixedly mounted. I

Each of the mentioned wings is provided with circular apertures 30, and said apertures are adapted to be partly or entirely opened and closed by means of shutters 31 which are disposed in the wings between the upper and lower surfaces, said shutters having apertures 33 to register with the two inner circular apertures of each wing. The shutters" are normally held by flexible members-35 in positions closing the wing apertures 30, said flexible members35 being in tension and secured at their lower ends to the body 10 of the airplane and trained over pulleys 25a on the plane. Coiled springs 36, normally in tension are secured to the outer end of. the shutters and to the outer ends of the wings. If the motor or the propeller fails, the wings are raised to prevent the plane from going into a tail-spin and the shutters then automatically move to open the wing apertures to further aid in preventing the plane from going into a tail-spin and thereby enable the operator to efiect a safe land- What is claimed is:

1. An airplane comprising a body portion, pivotally mounted wings adapted to be oscillated and means for so moving them, said means comprising a reciprocable rack bar, a ring secured to each of the wings and adapted to swing therewith, a roller secured to each ring and a lower and an upper guide rail secured transversely to said rack bar, said rollers being positioned between said rails and movable toward and away from each other between the same.

2. An. airplane comprising a body portion, pivotally mounted wings having upper and lower spaced surface members, means for swinging said wings upwardly and downwardly, said wings having vertical apertures, slidable shutters between the upper and lower surface members of said wings, said shutters having apertures adapted to register with the apertures in said wings, spring means securing said shutters to said wings for normally holding the apertures of said wings and shutters out of registration, a flexible member connecting the inner portion of each of said shutters with the body of the airplane whereby upon raising said Wings, said shutter apertures are brought into registration with said wing apertures. MEYER PERSTEN. 

